Matthew - suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia, killed by a sword wound.

Mark - died in Alexandria, Egypt, after being dragged by horses through the streets until
he was dead.
Luke - was hanged in Greece as a result of his tremendous preaching to the lost.
John - faced martyrdom when he was boiled in huge basin of boiling oil during a wave of
persecution in Rome. However, he was miraculously delivered from death. John was then
sentenced to the mines on the prison island of Patmos. He wrote his prophetic Book of
Revelation on Patmos. The apostle John was later freed and returned to serve as Bishop
of Edessa in modern Turkey. He died as an old man, the only apostle to die peacefully.
Peter - was crucified upside down on an x-shaped cross according to church tradition;
because he told his tormentors that he felt unworthy to die in the same way that Jesus
Christ had died. Probably died in Modern day Iraq or Iran as he was considered a outlaw
by the Romans after the Angel set him free from the chains of prison and all criminals
were executed on site found immediately.
James the Just - the leader of the church in Jerusalem, was thrown over a hundred feet
down from the southeast pinnacle of the Temple when he refused to deny his faith in
Christ. When they discovered that he survived the fall, his enemies beat James to death
with a fuller's club. This was the same pinnacle where Satan had taken Jesus during the
Temptation.
James the Greater - a son of Zebedee, was a fisherman by trade when Jesus called him to
a lifetime of ministry. As a strong leader of the church, James was ultimately beheaded at
Jerusalem. The Roman officer who guarded James watched amazed as James defended
his faith at his trial. Later, the officer walked beside James to the place of execution.
Overcome by conviction, he declared his new faith to the judge and knelt beside James to
accept beheading as a Christian.
Bartholomew, also known as Nathanael - was a missionary to Asia. He witnessed for our
Lord in present day Turkey. Bartholomew was martyred for his preaching in Armenia
when he was flayed to death by a whip.
Andrew - was crucified on an x-shaped cross in Patras, Greece. After being whipped
severely by seven soldiers they tied his body to the cross with cords to prolong his agony.
His followers reported that, when he was led toward the cross, Andrew saluted it in these
words: "I have long desired and expected this happy hour. The cross has been
consecrated by the body of Christ hanging on it." He continued to preach to his
tormentors for two days until he expired.
Thomas - was stabbed with a spear in India during one of his missionary trips to establish
the church in the sub-continent.
Jude, the brother of Jesus, - was killed with arrows when he refused to deny his faith in
Christ.
Matthias - the apostle chosen to replace the traitor Judas Iscariot-who hanged himself,
was stoned and then beheaded.
Barnabas - one of the group of seventy disciples, wrote the Epistle of Barnabas. He
preached throughout Italy and Cyprus.Barnabas was stoned to death at Salonica.
Paul - was tortured and then beheaded by the evil Emperor Nero at Rome in A.D. 67.
Paul endured a lengthy imprisonment which allowed him to write his many epistles 13 in
all, to the churches he had formed throughout the Roman Empire. These letters, which
taught many of the foundational doctrines of Christianity, form a large portion of the
New Testament.
Paul in giving his testimony to Agrippa recalls his witnessing the first martyr "So I said,
'Lord, they know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believe on
You. And when the blood of Your martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by
consenting to his death, and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.” (Acts
22:19-20) Certainly this became a seed of truth planted in Paul’s life as he stood by
consenting with the others of Stephens death.
Paul later echoed Jesus’ sermon on the mount in Rom. 12:14: “Bless those who persecute
you; bless and do not curse.” Rom. 12:20-21:Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed
him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his
head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. There was high
visibility of love in the early Church, it showed in the sacrifices they made as the apostle
John wrote “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also
ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” (1 John 3:16-17)
It is from the writings of the catholic church that we know the some of the history of the
early church. Clement and Eusebius wrote of their history. This statement has echoed
over the centuries of time “the seed of the church is built on the blood of the martyrs.”
Death was such a common way to go that it was called the baptism of blood. Yet that
baptism alone would not save a person rather the one of Jesus does. Christians were
called atheists because they wouldn’t recognize Caesar as God. They didn't need to have
him as their only God, but only add him to Jesus and they would be spared. Many did not
compromise, yet some did. In the first few centuries there were 6 million martyrs.
John the Apostle was the last to survive being the only one to have died a natural death
from old age. During Domitian's persecution in the middle 90's, he was banished on the
Isle of Patmos. Being exiled he wrote the last book of the New Testament--the
Revelation. It was John who wrote in Rev.12:11: “And they overcame him by the blood
of the lamb by the word of their testimony and they did not love their lives unto death.”
This was and still is the approval of God’s grace on every martyr for the Christian faith.